Something that has always stuck with me far beyond my youth is a quote my grandfather never ceased repeating, which was hence reiterated by my mother years later: “Nothing is ever free in this world, as like fish to bait there’s always a catch.” This was the very first thing that cropped into my mind upon the announcement of a potentially non-existent Xbox Live Gold subscription.
The question then remains, is Microsoft pushing online multiplayer into a new, far freer territory, and, more importantly, will it work in the company’s favor? Or, will there be a catch?
The Golden Age Of Xbox Live
Xbox Live as a service came online in the year 2002. According to Matthew Ball in a recent article discussing Nintendo, “By 2014, Xbox Live had also amassed 30MM subscribers paying $6-$10 per month.” Although for many years, both Sony and Nintendo rebutted Live as a marketing tactic to lure gamers into buying their consoles, eventually they too caved and instilled their own form of online multiplayer subscription services. Proving this paywalled multiplayer model’s efficiency, Xbox is still profiting to this day, with a strong Q4 revenue stream that also highlights a burgeoning promise for the Series X, its Project xCloud platform, Game Pass, and more Xbox Live content.
That is until, quite literally out of nowhere, and extremely stealthily, Microsoft got rid of the 12-month subscription plan. Though it didn’t go into great detail as to why exactly it made this decision, in a statement to True Achievements a Microsoft spokesperson says the following:
And just like that, poof, gone goes one of the pillars of Xbox’s long-lived online gaming monetization practices, an annual subscription model that has served it well for nearly two decades. What is Microsoft’s game plan? Is deviating from such a mainstay of its ecosystem really going to work in enhancing console sales? Or, is there a new, far more brilliant online subscription model already in reach?
“At this time, Xbox has decided to remove the 12 months Xbox Live Gold SKU from the Microsoft Online Store. Customers can still sign up for a one month or three month Xbox Live Gold subscription online through the Microsoft Store.”
A Match Made in the Clouds
Microsoft’s Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, released a statement on the Xbox news wire titled “You Are The Future of Gaming.” His long-winded slew of words can basically be boiled down to how the Xbox ecosystem itself will be evolving going into the next-gen arena. In the article, Spencer also divulges more on the merger of its cloud gaming platform with Game Pass, calling this beefier subscription plan the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. With that in mind, coupled with the sudden and unexpected disappearance of the 12-month Live Gold subscription plan, some believe this multiplayer component could very well be injected into the Game Pass.
Spencer likewise mentioned before how generation exclusives are counter to what gaming is about. He expands on the notion that no longer are the console wars a thing, in his mind, and beyond that newer technologies are enabling Microsoft to bridge this gap into the realms of broadened accessibility, wherein gamers don’t need an Xbox system to play Xbox games. In fact, Microsoft encourages players to utilize Game Pass and other services across devices, so that the infrastructure stays intact, and so that Microsoft still earns regardless of what platform you use. Because, as of right now, the only way to play multiplayer games for free without the necessity of a subscription plan model is on PC.
The New Xbox Live Golden Model
Microsoft wants to evolve the way we look at Live itself as a service. Instead of getting some lackluster titles from Free Games for Gold every month, Game Pass is an alternative measure for PC and Xbox console players to enjoy a variety of amazing content as if having hours upon hours of free demos at their disposal. However, unlike demos, these are fully-formed experiences. Fuse the Live service into the Game Pass subscription plan, thereby ridding this multitude of confusion already surrounding the Microsoft ecosystem, and Xbox still maintains a relatively positive revenue stream.
Thus, online multiplayer still won’t be free.
An opinion-based Reddit post from the Xbox Series X subreddit even touches on this very same matter, questioning the relevance of Live, the confusion it causes when stacked up against these other membership subscription plans, and the various words relayed by Phil Spencer regarding the future of Xbox. Many commenters relate a similar conviction, best posited by a now-deleted user who says:
A similar conviction is relayed in a miles-long thread shared by the Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, who explains how Microsoft is taking this new approach to their ecosystem accessibility. His professional opinion is centered upon how “Game Pass is being positioned as the main entry point to the Xbox ecosystem, on console/PC and even via cloud,” adding Microsoft’s “goal is to remove barriers to entry for AAA gaming, reduce friction, reach a larger player base, drive higher engagement and grow overall spend.”
“I too believe that Gold will change. Merge with gamepass/xcloud or something but I don’t see online being free. Yes it will be a mic drop moment but it’s also a huge money maker so throwing away tens of millions a billion $ per year doesn’t make sense from a business perspective.”
While it may seem as though Microsoft is attempting something unheard of, free multiplayer is probably the very last on its list of concepts. There is far too much money to pass up, as said previously, there’s already a sector in gaming that is being passed up: PC multiplayer. The advent of Microsoft’s Game Pass thereby allows the Xbox room to expand revenue streams into territories never thought possible. While a large portion of PC gamers play via Steam, Epic, or even the godforsaken BattleNet, Xbox on Windows 10 is an outlier being largely forgotten.
That is until the Game Pass takes over. For a mere $5 a month (or $15 for Ultimate), players will be privy to a host of games, which will be updated on the regular and, thus, at a gamer’s disposal within seconds. As Ahmad clearly stated, “multiple entry points” is Microsoft’s focus now going into the future, making Live all but null and void when the Xbox ecosystem is shared across a multitude of platforms. It sure as heck won’t be free, but it will be interesting to see not merely how it all works in tandem but how well gamers will adapt to it going far forward in the industry’s lifespan.
While my money is on Sony and its PS5 being the dominant factor, I do still believe the future of the industry is held within Microsoft’s palm via Game Pass and xCloud, thus only leading me to believe that their revenue within the next year will dramatically multiply. And yes, that means we’ll still be paying for Xbox multiplayer in some manner.
NEXT: Is Microsoft Cooking Up A September Release For Xbox?
